Prime Minister Narendra Modi wound up his campaign for Bihar assembly polls on Saturday, the penultimate day for canvassing for the second and final phase, claiming that people have given the opposition INDIA bloc a "65-volt jhatka" in the first leg and promising to be back for the swearing in of the new NDA government.
The day also saw his cabinet colleagues - Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh - coming out with stinging attacks on Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, who has been riling the BJP-led coalition with his "vote chori" allegations and trying to project a pro-Dalit image for the Congress.
PM Modi, who addressed his 14th and final rally at Bettiah, "the place where Gandhi became Mahatma", centred his attack on the RJD, alleging that if voted to power, the opposition party, backed by its allies, will put a "katta" on the people's heads and order them to hold their "hands up".
The Bettiah rally was preceded by another election meeting at Sitamarhi, the birthplace of goddess Sita, where the PM spoke of the NDA's endeavour to renovate Punaura Dham, the shrine built at the spot, and lambasted the opposition for "protecting infiltrators", in pursuit of a politics of "vote bank" and appeasement.
The PM seemed confident of an NDA win, claiming that the high turnout in the first phase was in favour of the ruling coalition.
"You have given a 65 volt shock to the opposition which is now having sleepless nights", said Modi, referring to the 65.09 per cent turnout registered across 121 assembly segments where voting was held on November 6.
There were also indirect references to Gandhi, the "naamdaar of Congress", who was called scion of "the most corrupt family in the country", and reminded of his late father Rajiv Gandhi, "a Congress Prime Minister", who had famously admitted that out of every rupee spent by the government, only 15 paise reached the people.
Shah and Singh, both former BJP presidents, were, however, more blunt in their attacks on Gandhi.
The Union Home Minister addressed three rallies in the north-eastern corner of the state. Widely regarded as the BJP's principal strategist, Shah, who has often called himself "son of a bania, who knows how to keep accounts", used the analogy of a shop to berate Gandhi and asserted that the Congress leader's "dukaan" will be shut after the drubbing in Bihar assembly polls.
Singh, who held three election meetings in south-western extreme of Bihar, called into question Gandhi's pro-Dalit stance, saying had he been so concerned about empowerment of SCs and STs, he would have offered the post of Leader of Opposition to someone from these deprived sections.
Gandhi, who represents Raebareli seat in Uttar Pradesh, was said to be away in Madhya Pradesh, a BJP-ruled state, a day after having canvassed in the poll-bound eastern province.
His absence in Bihar was pilloried by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav who had flown down to Bihar for campaigning.
Yadav alleged that Gandhi was "on a picnic" and claimed that the Congress leader's absence in the poll-bound state indicated that the opposition party had "conceded defeat".
"Rahul Gandhi is like a groom who has run away from his own wedding procession," claimed Yadav.
However, holding fort on behalf of the Congress was Gandhi's younger sister and general secretary Priyanka Vadra who held three rallies, claiming that her party was fighting against the "empire of Modi", which was akin to the "satyagraha" of Mahatma Gandhi.
Raising the "vote chori" allegation, she made the crowd, at one of her rallies, to repeat the names of the Chief Election Commissioner and the two other Election Commissioners and alleged "these three top officials are out to rob the people of their right to vote, the most basic right guaranteed by the Constitution".
Meanwhile, posters were put up in several parts of Patna by the RJD, in which leaders have been shown as presenting a chair, designed like a throne and carrying the label "CM of Bihar" to Tejashwi Yadav.
The gift was occasioned by the birthday of the young leader who turns 36 on Sunday.
However, celebrations were held at the RJD office ahead of the D-day, with party workers cutting and enjoying a 36-pound cake.
Several other leaders were in the poll-bound state, from different parts of the country, to take part in the campaign which will come to a close on Sunday.
Prominent among them were Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his predecessor and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, and former Union minister Smriti Irani.
Meanwhile, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor maintained that migrant workers were voting, and making their family members vote, for his one-year-old outfit and alleged that emergence of the "apravasis" as the proverbial "X factor" has led the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to "stop" special trains announced for the state during the Chhath festivities.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
